So how are The Equalizer files progressing, Neo? I hope all is well. I did try to send you a couple of emails at the address you wrote on this thread. This was a while ago, but never got a reply. I hope that they went through.

I'd like to mention one of my favorite supporting characters who I believe, showed up in 2 episodes during the first season and then made a return in the third season. This is Robert McCall's cleaning woman/housekeeper, Lettie. She was both comical and down to earth, portraying a very believable and realistic characterization. The inclusion of this minor character is just one of the many ways that the writers gave this show with a fantasy/unrealistic premise believabilty for their audience. What ever happened to the actress who played her? She was wonderful.

In the episode Blood and Wine, there was another portrayal of an office cleaning woman that was extremely brief, but I also found memorable for the way the actress delivered her few lines. She was cleaning a hallway while McCall comes to investigate a dentist who changed the teeth of the episode's villian. McCall asks her about the dentist and she replies with something about how could anyone let this guy put his fingers in their mouth. You have to see it to understand what I mean, but the line was priceless.

Neo, I have tried to email you to no avail. If you like, you can email your information to me at Lapin125@yahoo.com

And Neo, you're right. While I think Denzel is a great actor, I don't think he'll be able to carry off the Equalizer role because - and I hope no one here is going to think I'm racist - of a lack of believability because he's African American. I only say this because the main premise for the Equalizer is the fact that McCall was supposed to be a spy and we know from several of the shows that he must have been undercover in several countries and those seem to have been Eastern European countries. I don't think Denzel would have been able to do that in those countries any more than McCall could have gone undercover in say, China or Japan without sticking out like a sore thumb. On the other hand, if McCall was going over as an adviser, as he did when he was in Central America, then that's a totally different thing and maybe that's what they're planning for Denzel Washington. That could ring true, but I think with the original Equalizer as it stands, there was so much between Control and McCall that pointed to more secretive missions (think Dyson and Gage in Mission: McCall) that trying to change that to accommodate Denzel would take away an incredible amount of detail that made the show so much fun to watch and it would also require changing a great deal of the background history. Just my take on that.

Unless of course the Equalizer is moved up to modern times (and who wouldn't want to see that!) and the undercover work was done in the Middle East. Don Cheadle did that in Traitor and he was totally believable.

.... Oh, I just had to go back to Control's name. I still think he would have to have some sort of real name to sign to things like contracts and disclosure notices and stuff like that at work, but I did find out there was someone in British Intelligence who is - was - only known as ADI-53. I guess he's a real person and I have no idea how they came up with that one....

Hello .

I'm thrilled that I found this thread because I love the Equalizer and Control/Robert Lansing in particular. With Control's name, my take is that he carried id for and used whatever name he wanted to at the time, with possibly several ids depending on what he was doing. He may have pulled out a credit card in the name of John Smith to take someone to dinner, for example, and then later in the evening used one in the name of James Hutton to buy gas on the way to a stakeout.

How many names the man had/used, we'll probably never know. What his "real" name was we may never know either - but isn't it fun to think about, and makes him more mysterious? .

Welcome, Theresa! NeoT must be off somewhere, or I'm sure he'd have given you an enthusiastic welcome as well.

Are you in the Yahoo Equalizer message board? Because I just put a bunch of links to Robert Lansing on there. NeoT had posted a wonderful picture of Robert Lansing that showed him in what looked like a quiet, thoughtful mood and in one of the links it appears there was a painting made of that photo. Interesting.

And no, Joe Pesci would NOT make a good Robert McCall. Honestly, in regards to the movie, I have the feeling that it's going to be nothing more than an overhyped action film with a bunch of dumb James Bond special effects. I'm not even sure if I want to see it if it ever does get made. I might be the only person in the universe that hated the stupid Star Trek movie that came out (The Early Years?). It was so far removed from what Star Trek was all about, I never ever want to see it again or any sequels using the same people. I think an Equalizer movie might be better if it was a continuation of what McCall started. Both WiIliam Zabka, Keith Szarabajka, and Mark Margolis could come in as their original characters, but trying to get someone to replace McCall and Control would be impossible. I wouldn't even really want to see it attempted. Just my opinion.

And just what IS the "William Morrison" connection we humbly admit has gone right over, under, behind and beyond even our trinity of collectives? Enlighten, willya - us immortal Equalizers wanna know, y'no?!?!